The present invention relates to a technique for managing at least a storage system, or, in particular, to a technique for setting a volume of a storage system for each user of the storage system.
With the growing computerization of intra-company data, the amount of information to be processed has increased and intra-company data management costs are constantly increasing. In other words, companies bear the burden of increased costs due to an unpredictable increase in the amount of data which requires management through complicated data management tools and the expansion of the installation of data storage space. As a result, the practice has become widespread to entrust the data management to a SSP (storage service provider), etc. The SSP provides a service which enables a plurality of companies to share a storage system.
With regard to prior art techniques for the sharing of a storage system, JP-A-2003-330622 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Reference 1) discloses a method in which a general administrator of a computer system allocates the volume of the storage system to each user (individual administrator) and sets the right of each user to access the allocated volume. In this way, within the framework of allocation and release operations available to a user to make the volume accessible to a user, each user can alter the computer system's configurations for the allocation or release of the volume for each computer used by a user. JP-A-2002-222061 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Reference 2), on the other hand, discloses a method in which the storage pool management component of a storage system is configured so that the volume is selected from the storage pool and allocated to each computer in response to a volume allocation request.
A management interface is available for the user to allocate a volume of capacity which the user requires from a storage pool to a computer without resorting to enlisting a storage system manufacturer or vendor to assist with the allocation process. In SNIA Storage Management Initiative Specification version 1.0.1 (pp. 178 to 220, pp. 233 to 270), Sep. 12, 2003, Storage Network Industry Association, (hereinafter referred to as Non-Patent Reference 1), for example, the SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) set forth a specification of the management interface of the storage system based on the standards of CIM (Common Information Model) and WBEM (Web-Based Enterprise Management), as defined by the DMTF (Distributed Management Task Force). This specification is disclosed in SMI-S (Storage Management Initiative Specification).
In a case where the general administrator of the computer system allocates a volume of the storage system to each user (individual administrator), it is difficult to predict the volume capacity used by each user. Underestimation or overestimation of capacity may cause too little or too much of the volume to be allocated to each user. As a result, the utilization rate of the volume of the storage system as a whole would be reduced and the TCO (total cost of ownership) of the storage system would increase. Also, the general administrator is required to monitor the current utilization of the volume allocated to each user and, in the case where the volume runs short or is excessive, adjust or redistribute the volumes that are already allocated among the users. This imposes a considerable workload on the general administrator. Nevertheless, Patent Reference 1 fails to take this point into consideration.
In a case where a plurality of users each allocate the volume of the storage system to an arbitrarily chosen computer, on the other hand, each user accesses or alters the configuration of the volume allocated by the particular user. Specifically, in a case where each user accesses the volume allocated by him or her, it is impractical to simultaneously display all the volumes allocated by all the users. Also, a security problem is posed if each user is in a position to alter the configuration of the volume allocated by other users. This point, however, is not addressed by Patent Reference 2.